Everything I Know Costs Money

I know I should blog about BlogHer, but I'm not ready - stuff is still racing around in my head. When it settles down, I'll write.

One of the topics people ask me wistfully if I'll ever write about again is dogs. People still send me email from my website and from my lists asking questions about their dog's health and care, although much less as I've been almost completely absent on my lists for several months now. This weekend I finally understood one of the main reasons why I've mostly stopped responding to these questions.

Almost no one can ever afford to do what I'm recommending.

I am not one who thinks vets charge too much. Of course there are vets out there who over-charge, that's inevitable. But overall, I actually think the veterinary profession is underpaid. Vets make less than human dentists by a considerable margin, for example. They almost never make a three-figure salary, and if they do, it's probably because they work in a high-overhead specialty practice in an expensive metropolitan area.

But that's irrelevant to whether or not people actually have the money to do the things that would result in their dog or cat getting the best possible care.

I'm not talking about the pathetic losers who always have money for a new computer or cell phone or drugs or booze or whatever, but "can't afford" to take their dog to the vet when it gets hit by a car. Those people aren't emailing me for advice and if they did, I wouldn't hesitate to tell them to find their dog a loving home with someone with a brain and a heart and then go out and shoot themselves. No, they aren't the problem.

The problem is all the well-meaning people who love their pets but don't have three grand lying around to run diagnostics and actually find out why their dog has had diarrhea off and on for the last seven months. The ones who write me in desperation, looking for an herbal or dietary cure for a completely undiagnosed digestive tract disease. And the only real answer I have for them is, unless you know what the problem is, how can anyone, conventional or alternative, even begin to help you solve it?

Of course you can try a homemade diet and gentle herbs. And it might fix the problem. But it might not. And this approach is no more scientific than the "let's put them on Flagyl and see what happens" one I rant about so often. There is still no diagnosis, and you never do know if the treatment worked, or it was just tincture of time that did the trick.

The same holds true for so many other problems, from hair loss to obesity to fatigue to itching to respiratory problems. Undiagnosed tick diseases, undiagnosed Cushings, undiagnosed allergies ... the list is endless and the answers, costly. Not always, but usually at least slightly, into four figures.

Often these days I feel overwhelmed with the options that exist for diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries in our dogs and cats. Even at a fraction of the cost of their human equivalents, these procedures are often well beyond the means of any but the wealthiest pet owners. I used to do any and everything possible, damn the cost, until two five-figure vet bills in less than two years burned through all my savings and most of my available credit - and both dogs died.

So now when I start researching "What to do?"  I also have to ask "How much does it cost?" and follow that up with  "Can I afford that?"

When I get asked for advice, I don't like to assume the person asking has financial limitations, but usually when I suggest something, the first response is, "I can't afford that." I begin to understand why so many vets start economizing on their clients' behalf, and don't bother offering the best option, because it must seem that no one ever takes them up on it. I never thought I'd be one of those people, and yet more and more these days, I am. I'd still bankrupt myself if necessary to save a dog or cat, but I'm more hesitant now. I realize how few miracles there really are, be they conventional or holistic. I realize how expensive most miracles are, too. I know, I've bought a few in my time, and I'm sure I'll buy a few more.

Can good holistic care reduce vet bills? I think it can reduce the smaller day-to-day ones. It does seem to me, after more than 20 years of holistic pet care, that yes, my raw-fed, holistically raised dogs are living much longer than their kibble-fed, conventionally raised relatives. I can't state with any certainty they are living longer because of my rearing practices, though, because this is a very small sample. Still, it's what I believe.

But it's not enough. My first five-figure vet bill was on a third generation naturally reared dog of my own breeding, who died despite all our best efforts and all the money we could throw at the problem. And dogs who live longer also end up costing more, for food bills if nothing else.

Losing Raven cost me a lot more than money, too. It cost me a certain innocence I had somehow held onto for more than two decades. I realized that you can open a vein and bleed yourself dry and still lose your dog. I should have understood that when I lost Bran two years before, but it took this second lesson to get it into my head: There are no guarantees when you start down that path.

This is certainly not a novel observation. Gina has blogged about it, and so has Nancy Campbell RVT over at Vet Techs, where I also blog. I'm kind of slow, sometimes, and it took me a while to put the pieces together.

Knowledge may be power, but sometimes it just costs too damn much to get it. And so, what do you do?

I wish I had a suggestion.

Comments

[victoria]

Hi Kristie, I sure do hear you. Having recently lost a bulldog to 'died in her sleep' and earlier having treated another bulldog's heart ailments to the tune of many thousands of dollars, and losing her (of course)- they are differently traumatic, but traumatic nonetheless. I believe (with fervor) that my new standard poodle- holistically weaned, from a raw fed dam, with minimal vaccination and a raw diet will prove my 'believer' status. I only can enjoy each day with this fabulous boy and be ready to spend more than I can imagine. These are not rational questions- but they need to be asked. Thanks for your blog- Victoria

[Christie Keith]

I'm so sorry for your loss, Victoria... thank you for commenting!

[Great Dane Addict]

Very sincere post. I'm glad you posted it. It's unfortunate that owning and loving dogs also has a high price-tag, in your wallet AND your heart.

[Christie Keith]

Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm not really sure where I'm even going with this - maybe it's just a phase I'm passing through.

[Judi]

This is one of the most awesome posts I have ever read. Thank you for putting this together and publishing it.

My own very FIRST dog has cost me the same 5 digits in his almost 6 years on this earth. It hurts so much to have him sick. He is in CHF now and we're onto force feeding him. It sucks that the love we have for our dogs costs us SO %$#@& much.

Judi

[Mindy]

Yeah, dogs are expensive. So are human kids. But both of them are only expensive when you rear them properly so really, what are the options? They're a package deal.

Money can be replaced. Dogs can't. Really, I think what it all comes down to is doing the very best you can with both the information and the monetary resources that are available and then doing the best that you can. I know that for me personally, when I know that I have truly done my very best then the cards are going to fall where they may - and at least I know in my heart that I tried my hardest.

When Maggie was 15, she had a surgery that cost us a good 5 digits. I know a lot of people, including our vets, thought we were absolutely insane to sink that kind of cash into a 15 year old dog but it wasn't a matter of having the money or not having the money, it was a case of doing what we felt was right for the dog. Mags had spirit, she was a tough old girl and my husband and I both felt that she wasn't finished just yet. The bottom line of that story is that Mags became a cancer survivor and she had one more year that was phenomenal. She eventually chose her time and place and passed naturally.

She gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received in my life. It might have cost us 5 digits, but that gift was priceless. During that last year, she taught me what it's like to live in the moment, appreciate every day for what it is and to love, really love. It was amazing to take a Chow as far as we took Maggie but for all the care we gave her through the years she paid us back that last year a million times over. You just can't buy those kinds of life lessons.

So really, what we paid for that surgery didn't even come into play in the long run. And the irony of it all was that she came into my life as a 2 year old dog who was picked up off the streets. As it turned out, she needed a very expensive surgery which I could not afford at the time. So I put it on plastic and threw caution to the wind for a dog I didn't even know. Talk about karma. Taking her in turned out to be one of the luckiest days of my life.

Mindy

[arlo muttrie]

I've just started to blog on this subject, and I'm always looking for more input. I'll be writing on this more in the future. My big problem is that we, as vets, have encouraged the public to treat their pets like family, but if they don't have the money to pay some very expensive (note I didn't say overpriced) bills, well, then that's just those owners tough luck, isn't it?

[Christie Keith]

My own very FIRST dog has cost me the same 5 digits in his almost 6 years on this earth. It hurts so much to have him sick. He is in CHF now and we're onto force feeding him.

Judi, I'm so sorry you and your dog are going through this... and thank you very much for reading and commenting here! I'll keep you both in my thoughts.

[Christie Keith]

Money can be replaced. Dogs can't. Really, I think what it all comes down to is doing the very best you can with both the information and the monetary resources that are available and then doing the best that you can. I know that for me personally, when I know that I have truly done my very best then the cards are going to fall where they may - and at least I know in my heart that I tried my hardest.

I agree, and yet I also find it horribly painful, TOO painful, to know there is something that might help and not try it for financial reasons. It really hurts to contemplate that.

[Christie Keith]

I've just started to blog on this subject, and I'm always looking for more input. I'll be writing on this more in the future.

I'm glad to hear that and look forward to reading it! Thank you so much for commenting here!

[Eliza Wingate]

As a dog rescuer, mother of a very hard working veterinarian and person who lives with (and of course is responsible for) 5 dogs, I know that you can never tell how long an animal has to live. I have a Rottweiler I rescued at 8 weeks. She had been returned to the breeder because of a bad heart. At 4 months, a cardiologist at U C Davis said that Leloo had the worst heart she ever saw and that she might live a year. Well she is now over 5 years old, just tore her cruciate ligament and came through flying. So NOW she is my most expensive dog. She deserves it. She has defied everyone's expectations. For the first few years, I held back my affections, having just lost a dog and thinking she would not be around long.

So it is back to live in the present, love in the present. We just do not have more than the present.

[Belinda]

The ninjas have been raw-fed for about 10 years now, and I hope never to have to change that...but I can see how easily it could happen, especially now that I have a *human* child who must, of course, come first.

I have had to make a huge sacrifice, though, this year, as concerns my animals. We just moved from a tiny (1100SF) house that was my "bachelorette" house before I married, on 10 acres of lush grass, to a home more than three times that size...but on a mere 5 acres--on a rocky hillside. Not great for my handful of horses.

At first, I just thought, "Oh, well, I'll have to feed more hay, that's all." Um, NO. I have to feed all hay, all the time, even now, in the heart of grass season. And guess what? I can't afford to buy all that hay for that many horses. When we broke it down, we realized that we'd gone from spending an average of $300/month feeding horses, to spending close to $1,000/month! I had no idea how good I had it over on that great pasture land.

So, I am having to give up almost all of my horses. We are keeping my daughter's Shetland pony and my dearest heart-horse who I've had since birth, but I fear that the rest will have to go. I won't sell them--can't bear to do that, but I am trying to find good homes to adopt them out to. One mare that I bred and adore and couldn't quite completely part with, I've signed a co-own on with a riding school. When I've had more time to process the "letting go," I will most likely sign her completely over.

But I guess my point is that, when the choice is between lowering my standard of care or letting them go...I just have to let them go, so that they may live the lifestyle to which I've gotten them accustomed.

[Dr. Patty Khuly]

LOVE your blog. Thanks for writing about dogs--though I love your other stuff, too. I'm a vet, so you know you've reached me with your understanding attitude towards vets and our relatively puny salaries. Good holistic care can be expensive to come by, too. Because you focus on prevention your bills are bound to be lower. How about yur thoughts on the pet insurance market? I`d love to know. Check me out at dolittler.com. Thanks!